Monday, January 27, 2014

In November my darling husband texted me an address to look at. As requested, I did. "Clearly old people live there!" was my initial response. But the more I looked at it online the more I wanted to see it. That Saturday I was with my mom, step-dad, MF and a realtor checking out this home. It was cute! Very retro, and cute in a 1950's housewife way. The day before Thanksgiving we made an offer. They countered, we countered, they countered....by raising the price to more than they originally asked?!? That, coupled with some shady feelings and their asshole listing agent, caused me to say, "No, screw that. We will find something else!" And that was that. In the matter of a week we found a house, offered and cancelled the offer.

So to the apps we went! We downloaded tons of real estate apps and searched for THE house. Outside of the city limits, more than an acre, room for MF to have a sop for his man activities. We were pretty picky and drove around looking to rule homes out and decide what we wanted to check out in more depth. Welcome that big snow of 2013!

Without telling my mom we looked at house #2. When MF showed me photos I laughed and pretty much said, "In your dreams!" But we checked it out anyway. Love at first sight! It had a different feel than the first one and had a more "Welcome home!" feeling. But I was going to do my best to suppress my THIS IS IT feeling and give the others a chance.

Homes 3, 4 and 5 were all in the same neighborhood. While we should have been staying home, we instead met with our trusty realtor and braved the snow and icy conditions to check them out. Number 4 was awkward. The owners were home watching football. The house was nice, but too close to neighbors for me. Number 3 was huge! Five bathrooms and three living rooms?!? We wouldn't be able to hear each other on opposite sides of the house. It did have some cute deer hanging out under a tree though! Leaving #3 was an adventure! We had to get up a huge hill covered in snow. As we got partly up a truck pulled out in front of us, slowing us down. We ended up stuck spinning in snow. MF says, "if we slide back a bit, it's ok. Don't worry." Next thing I know we are rapidly going backwards and he clearly isn't doing it on purpose. I start saying his name over and over, in a calm manner. He hits the wheel, we do donuts down the freaking hill!!!! I almost started crying, but my car was fine. We looked for chains but didn't have any. Eventually we got up the hill and I just died laughing! An adventure! Chanelle, when I said I was at my cousin's house that was true....we looked at the house by them!

Last house was number 5. It was beautiful. A huge living room with a fireplace you could walk completely around. The deck was awesome. It was so nice, but only one real bedroom. I wanted three. So we went home and decided to go check out house number 2. Hmm, Tew Legit liked house #2! This time I took photos and even got IN the tub to make sure it would work. I was in love. This was going to be our house.

We made an offer. After a couple counter offers we all agreed! From there it's been near daily trips to go look at it and count down. The inspector came out and we learned it needed a new roof. So the owners had a new roof put on and some dry rot fixed. I've signed my name and initials so many times since mid December. Keeping it a secret has been so hard. My own mom didn't know which house we picked (or that we even looked) until Christmas when we took her and Grandpa to see it!

Apparently you just need to bomb your house for fleas, realize you need to fix a wall and see how much work your current home needs to inspire you to just grow up and buy a house! We were supposed to be moving in today, but the underwriter is being difficult so we are on call to move in any day now!

*All those boxes I've been taking home? I wasn't lying when I said I had a big project and was cleaning, sorting and merging. I just omitted that ultimately those boxes are moving locations. Oh, and Lady has been there a lot. She gets excited every time we pull up. She loves her new home!

9 comments:

Sweet! It's nice that you've got your abode all prepped up, just in time for your eventual rest and relaxation. Pretty welcome initiative for them to re-evaluate the roofing before you step right in. You'll probably be faced with the same kind of choice in the future, and the same action and commitment. Look for the most commendable roofing available, should it come to that.

Your new home is adorable. Congrats on being a new homeowner! I love your blog especially your recaps on your Disney races. I blog at shufflescrapsparkle.blogspot.com if you'd like to check it out. Hope you are feeling better.

Oh yay! Im doing a happy dance for you!! So exciting! It looks gorgeous! I love the bathroom and kitchen!! Congrats! Moving is hard work! We just moved before thanksgiving and still have a couple things that need to be done! Lol

You are sure right - I feel like I just keep doing stuff and still I'm surrounded by boxes waiting to be unpacked. The kitchen is just so fabulous, I'm completely in love with it. Every morning and night I just stand in it and look around. I love it!